Nuclear fusion research company picks former Oscar Meyer site for new home (MADISON)
A vacant Madison landmark will house a company researching nuclear fusion. Realta Fusion has announced the former Oscar Meyer plant on the city’s north side as its new corporate headquarters. The Madison-based group is expanding its research team and needs the space, according to CEO Kieran Furlong. Realta’s goal is to create stable nuclear fusion which would be able to generate enormous amounts of power without generating nuclear waste. That goal is still a long way off, but Realta’s hope is to generate new prototypes in Madison that get closer to sustainable fusion.
Former Rodriguez campaign manager facing personal finiancial issues before firing (MADISON)
A former campaign director for Lieutenant Governor Sara Rodriguez was facing her own financial issues. Rodriguez announced this week she was firing Kara Spencer for failing to properly count and track campaign finances. But public records show that Spencer was already facing eviction from her apartment and owed over 8-thousand dollars in rent when she moved out last July. Rodriguez says her campaign actually has hundreds of thousands of dollars less than expected due to poor accounting on Spencer’s part.
We Energies using new tracking bands on peregrine falcon chicks (UNDATED)
We Energies is installing new tracking devices — on falcon chicks. Peregrine falcons are notoriously hard to track once they leave their nests like the ones installed on power plants across Wisconsin. That’s why We Energies and Wisconsin Public Service turned to an emerging technology to band and track the birds. The Blue Morpho system uses solar power to ping cell phone towers and more effectively track the birds, who like to nest high up on cliffs and towers.
DNR using restitution money from man who faked death to buy new equipment (UNDATED)
Wisconsin’s DNR is putting some restitution money to good use. The DNR says it’s used money from a Watertown man who faked his death nearly 2 years ago to purchase new sonar equipment for emergency responses. Ryan Borgwardt faked a kayaking accident on Big Green Lake as a ruse to leave the country to meet up with a woman in eastern Wisconsin. He eventually came back and pleaded no contest to an obstruction charge and was sentenced to 89 days in jail and ordered to pay restitution to the DNR for its approximately 350 hours of staff time spent searching for him.
Seized vehicles will be auctioned off this month (WAUSAU)
Vehicles seized from a convicted fraudster will be sold at auction. Hundreds of power-sports items that once belonged to Stanley Pophal, the Wausau man who stole more than 14 million dollars from 190 investors, will hit the auction block later this month. According to the US Department of Justice the listing includes snowmobiles, motorcycles, dirt bikes, and go-karts, and all proceeds will go towards restitution for the 64-year-old’s victims. Apple Auctioneering will handle the sale, which will be conducted online. Those interested in bidding are encouraged to sign up early. Pophal pled guilty to federal money laundering and wire fraud in June, he’s scheduled to be sentenced in September.